netTrekker and NSTA Partner to Improve K-12 Science Teaching

    CINCINNATI, OH, February 11, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Research shows that educators need ongoing professional development support, particularly in their core subject, to be highly effective in the classroom and increase student achievement. netTrekker, a leader in the delivery of digital K-12 educational resources, has partnered with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) to offer a complete package of instructional and professional development resources that help K-12 teachers increase their science-content proficiency and improve their teaching skills. NSTA is the largest professional organization in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning.

Recently, President Barack Obama launched the "Educate to Innovate" campaign, a nationwide effort by public and private organizations to improve the participation and performance of America's students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). "With the renewed national focus on science education, school administrators are looking to step up their efforts and answer the call," said Randy Wilhelm, CEO of netTrekker. "Our partnership with NSTA offers schools the opportunity to support STEM initiatives by integrating professional development with teaching resources that can be applied immediately to the classroom to help all students excel in science."

netTrekker is the leading safe K-12 educational search tool. It enables educators to easily and safely connect to thousands of high-quality, standards-aligned digital resources and tools to support students' unique learning needs. All netTrekker resources are hand-selected by expert educators to keep every search safe, focused and relevant, and cover the entire school curriculum, including STEM subject areas and career education.

Through the new partnership, schools and districts can purchase a package of professional development resources from the NSTA Learning Center along with their netTrekker subscription. K-12 science teachers can easily access NSTA's online professional development resources within their netTrekker search results to immediately find the support they need, and enhance their subject-area knowledge and instructional skills on the specific science topics that they're teaching.

"NSTA believes strongly that quality teaching is the cornerstone of an effective science education program. This is why developing and delivering high-quality professional development resources for science educators is one of NSTA's highest priorities," said Dr. Francis Eberle, executive director of NSTA. "We are thrilled to partner with netTrekker to support teachers and provide them with the resources they need to succeed in the classroom."

The NSTA Learning Center resources provide a rich set of self-paced professional development activities and experiences for science educators at the elementary, middle and high school levels to meet a variety of adult learning styles and build on basic levels of content knowledge. The Center provides more than 4,400 multimedia resources, including:

- Science Objects - Two-hour online inquiry-based learning experiences that teachers can use to enhance their understanding of a particular scientific concept. Topics are based on the science literacy goal in the national standards and tied to state standards.

- SciPacks - 10-hour online interactive courses, aligned with the national science education standards, that help teachers better understand the science content they teach. Each pack includes an e-mail content mentor to address individual questions, a pedagogical component to assist in translating the content for the classroom, and provides an opportunity for teachers to demonstrate their knowledge through a final assessment.

- SciGuides - Thematically aligned Web sites, lesson plans, student work samples, simulations, and other classroom resources for science teachers interested in integrating online content into their teaching.

- Web Seminar Archives - Downloadable archives of NSTA's 60 to 90-minute live professional development Web seminars that allow participants to learn from nationally acclaimed experts, NSTA Press authors, scientists, engineers, and education specialists from NSTA partner organizations.

- e-Book Chapters and Journal Articles - Selected collection of materials from the renowned NSTA Press, including 181 e-book chapters and more than 2,700 journal articles from four NSTA journals.

The netTrekker NSTA Learning Center package will be available this spring. netTrekker subscribers will be able to access a select portion of NSTA Learning Center resources in their search results as part of their netTrekker subscription, or they can opt to upgrade to access the full suite. For more information, visit netTrekker.com.

About netTrekker
netTrekker is a leader in the delivery of digital K-12 educational content. The company is dedicated to enhancing the education of today's youth with highly effective technologies that deliver the rich educational value of the Internet to every child in a safe, relevant, easy-to-use format. netTrekker is the #1 educational search tool and was first to market with a standards-based solution utilizing the services of Academic Benchmarks, the premier provider of comprehensive standards-based K-12 educational databases, alignment tools, and integration products. Peers, educators, and parents have honored netTrekker more than 25 times for its contribution to education. Founded in 1999 by Robert Reinders, the company serves millions of students and thousands of schools around the world. For more information, visit www.netTrekker.com, or phone 877-517-1125.

About NSTA
The Arlington, Va.-based National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), www.nsta.org, is the largest professional organization in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. NSTA's current membership includes more than 60,000 science teachers, science supervisors, administrators, scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved in science education.

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